Just this time
by CaroSomething
Summary: Amethyst has something to tell Peridot


Hi everyone. This is an idea I've been playing in my mind for a while. It has a lots of dialogues but I couldn't do it any other way, so be patient xD

* * *

It was a beautiful day in Beach City. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and an angry dorito was fuming in the barn.

She had spent almost all day with the "game boy" Steven had given her, waiting for the sun to reach the right position. Of course, she had lost every time, too worried with other thoughts. She'd be playing one second, and the next one pacing around, ranting while pressing buttons randomly in the game.

"What could this be? Something good? Something bad? Did I…? Ugh, stupid device." She would lose, press start, and rant once again.

"Come on, Peridot. Everything's fine. There's nothing wrong. Everything's… die, die, die, die! Nyehehehe… We are friends, good friends. The best friends. I'm sure it's nothing. Then why wouldn't she tell me? Ugh!" She sank on a haystack, face first, and kept groaning.

"What's wrong with you? I mean, besides the obvious."

"Lazuli!" Peridot stood quickly, startled by her roommate's sudden appearance. "What are you doing here? I thought I'd be alone all day. And what do you mean beside the obvious?" She questioned with a suspicious look.

Lapis just snorted and looked away. "Never mind. Why are you upset?"

"I don't know. I have something to do later, and I feel uneasy about it" The green gem answered, frowning. "I shouldn't worry. I mean, there's nothing wrong. It's just… Hey! Where are you going?"

While Peridot gibed, Lapis had turned around and headed to the door.

"I got bored" She answered without turning her back.

"You're not supposed to leave! Steven said that when your friend is feeling down, you must listen to them and give them advice. According to this procedure, you have to listen to me." She finished with a smirk.

"I don't have to do anything." Lapis answered resuming her walk to the door.

"Please, Lazuli! I need my 'roomie' right now. Please, please, pleeeeease!"

Turning around and looking at the desperate gem in front of her, Lapis finally cave. "Ugh, fine. But stop babbling and get to the point. What happened?"

"Yes!" The small gem said, jumping and throwing her fist to the air. "Where do I begin? I was here this morning and… Wait, maybe I should tell you about the weird behavior of… or is that irrelevant to my predicament? Perhaps if…"

"I'm this close to leave you."

"No. Right, to the point." She got all serious and began to explain. "As you should know, Amethyst and I have become very good friends and enjoy spending time together. I see her almost every day and we almost never disagree or fight. Things are great." She finished with a smile. Then her expression changed to one gloomier. "They were great, until something changed."

"About ten earth rotations ago… I mean 'days', Amethyst started to behave weird around me. She looked worried, sad, guilty, and even angry sometimes. I thought that I'd offended her again, but when I asked she dismissed it and laughed. And then she acted all strange again." Peridot told noticeably frustrated. She had started pacing again, waving her arms while explaining.

"Did you ask Steven?" Lapis asked, her previous disinterest forgotten.

"Yes, I did. He just said Amethyst acts like that sometimes, but she doesn't like to talk about it. He advised me to wait."

"Did you?"

"Yes. But I still don't understand her. It's infuriating."

"So, let me get this straight. She acts weird, you don't get her, and that's why you're eating hay?"

"No! I'm not eating that itchy, yellow thing. I don't eat. I was laying my head on it." Peridot explained. And then she added. "Although that's not it. I'm upset for what happened this morning." The green gem walked to her side of the barn and collected a piece of paper.

"I'd just finished my report on the season finale of _Camp Pining Hearts_ , when I heard a knock on the door. I went outside and found this note."

 _Dear Peri,_

 _Hey P-Dot, how's it going? I hope you're having a nice week._

 _Look, I know I haven't been myself lately, and I wanted to explain it to you. Wait for me at the barn at sunset. Well, that's all._

 _Yours truly, Amethyst._

"I believe Steven helped with the writing. It sounds like him. Anyway, now I have to wait for the sun to fall to find out. I'd like to be prepared for what she's going to say. But I have no clue what that could be!"

"You want to be prepared… for what exactly?"

"To know how to proceed. I can think of many hypothetical situations. For example, I could have offended her. In that case I must create the perfect apology. And since I don't have my recorder anymore" she said, while narrowing her eyes at lapis, "I should practice what I'm going to say."

"Ok…"

"Another case scenario: she's having problems. Then I must prepare the most comforting words. I should also search for friendly advice on the 'Google'. Or maybe she…"

"Ok, ok, I got it." Lapis interrupted her knowing that the technician could go on and on for hours. "I can't advise you on this. But you're probably overreacting. Then she smiled mischievously, with a new idea, and said: "Maybe she's gonna tell you she likes you."

"Of course she likes me. I'm lovable" Peridot said with a snort, dismissing it.

"No. I mean that she looooves you." Lapis insisted with a mocking tone. And when she noticed the deep blue on Peri's cheeks, she pushed a little more. "Oh, and you love her too! This is perfect. A Peridot and a quartz, how adorable!" Then she started cackling.

"That's not true! Shut up!" Peridot yelled and tried to cover the blue gem's mouth, as the other kept laughing.

"Why would you even suggest that?" Peridot questioned, ceasing her attempts at reaching Lapis's mouth. "Amethyst and I are just friends."

"Hey, you said it yourself: you spend a lot of time together, she acts weird around you, and she has that strange look in her eyes. I haven't seen it, but I bet that's a love look."

As Lapis presented the facts under this new perspective, Peridot's face got serious.

"You mean that…" She started doubtful. "…she could be… IN LOVE WITH ME? WHAT? OH MY STARS! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? WHAT SOULD I SAY?" She asked, holding Lapis's arm like her life depended on it.

Then Lapis slapped her and Peri let her go. The small dorito shut up immediately, looking wide-eyed at her roommate.

"Stop freaking out. This is extremely simple. Do you like her? And I mean like her, like her."

Peridot nodded. Then shook her head. Then nodded again. Then covered her face and dropped to the floor. "I don't know. I've never thought about it." She sighed and continued without uncovering her face. "If I'd want to I could have feelings for her. Objectively speaking she's aesthetically pleasing, her hair is gorgeous, she's funny, she's strong, she's clever and she cares about things, even when she tries to not act like it. I can't find reasons to not be with her, but I've never seen her that way. She's just my best friend… No offense Lazuli"

Lapis rolled her eyes at the last comment and then contemplated the gem at her feet for one second.

"You could tell her you need to think about it. It is the truth. You'll be fine, this is not bad. It's always nice to know that someone loves you. And she does love you she'll be your friend no matter what."

"I… guess you're right. Yes, we care about each other. We'll make this work. Thank you, Lapis." She said to her friend with a shy smile.

Lapis blush and turn around. "Well, you obviously still have things to think about, and I have places to be. Ummm… good luck." Lapis went to the door and closed it behind her.

Ten seconds later she entered back. "Oh, by the way, it's sunset, and Amethyst is waiting for you outside. Bye." And she left again.

"What? Already? Oh my stars!" Peridot got up looking pale (do gems could get pale?). She looked around the barn, seemingly trying to look for and exit. She even aimed for the hole she had make with her giant robot, but stopped when she heard the door of the barn being open and a voice behind her.

"Peri?"

Peridot turned around and found the reason of her distress standing right in front of her.

Amethyst looked pretty anxious. Her eyes wandered, between Peridot and the floor, as if she couldn't keep the other gem's look. She swayed back and forth on her feet and had her hands on her back, carrying something that Peridot couldn't see.

"Hey" Amethyst said waving.

"Hi."

They stayed in silence for a little while, avoiding each other's eyes. Suddenly Amethyst stepped closer and extended her arms on Peridot's direction. In her hand was a bouquet of flowers. "Here. It's a gift for you. It was Steven's idea. It's ok if you don't like them." The words left her mouth on a hurry.

"Wow, thanks." Peridot mumble, grabbing the gift and looking at it. They were wild flowers, the kind that grew near the barn. They stayed silent again until the technician couldn't take it anymore. "Well, your note said you have something to explain. So explain, please. I've been losing my mind all day thinking about it. I need answers."

"It's hard to talk about it. I'm afraid that you'll gonna take it bad, and then you'll stop being my friend. I… I've been keeping this secret for a while and I have been trying to decide if I should tell you or not. I talked about it with Steven and Garnet and they told me you have to know. So here I am." The purple gem said, noticeably struggling to look at Peri.

"Hey, it's fine." Peridot said, reassuring. Her confidence surprisingly back. "I promise I can handle whatever your secret is. Whatever your… feelings are. I mean, I might have guessed what you're about to say and I…" Her voice trailed off slowly.

Amethyst's face went from nervous to serious in one second, purposeful. She got a little closer to Peri, took her face with both hands and looked straight to her eyes. The purple quartz opened her mouth and said the words that could change it all, but not in the way that Peridot expected.

"Peri… I… I threw your limb enhancers away."

"You… what?" Peridot questioned, wide-eyed.

"I threw them to the ocean. It's my fault you're small. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me." Amethyst's glowed with regret and guilt.

"You threw them away… my limb enhancers." Peridot repeated, trying to make sense of the other gem's words.

"It was before we get along. Before we get to know each other. You were the bad guy, and we weren't…"

And then Peridot lost it.

"THAT'S ALL YOU WANTED TO SAY? YOU HAVE KEPT ME GUESSING ALL DAY, AND THAT'S ALL? That you just tossed those stupid things away. Are you kidding me?" The hurt on her eyes was unmistakable.

"It was before we were friends! I will help you find them. Peri you promised you wouldn't get mad!"

"I don't care about the promise. I don't even care about the limb enhancers. I thought… I thought that you…" She interrupted herself and get angrier. "Never mind. You know what? I don't care about any of this and I don't care about you." At hearing those words Amethyst stepped back, looking at the gem that she had called friend with deep sorrow. Then the sorrow became fury.

"Then I don't care about you either. I don't need you, you know? You're just a nerd. And I have a family, what do you have? A tape recorder… oh, wait, you don't even have that anymore. You're pathetic." Her words were bitter, hurtful.

"GET OUT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU ANYMORE!"

"Fine with me." Amethyst stomped out of the barn and shut the door with a thump.

Peridot kept staring at the place where her former best friend had stood just a moment ago, and let go the tears she had been keeping. She dropped to the floor for the third time that day, and curled up, trying to shut the uncontrollable sobbing that attacked her.

* * *

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Amethyst screamed, getting away from the other gem. Her eyes were full with fear and sadness.

 _No, no, no, that's not right. That's not possible. That can't happen_ , she thought. Then she started crying.

"Shhh. It's ok." Garnet said hugging her tight. "I warned you this could happen, and you still insisted."

Amethyst had been planning this day for weeks. She had asked Steven's help for a perfect way to confess her secret to Peridot, and they had come up with the idea of the note and the sunset date. This way she could practice what to say and don't ruin it.

When they had everything set up, Amethyst thought of another way to make sure everything went perfect. She'd beg Garnet to pass her powers to her for just one moment. Just this time and she would never ever ask again. Garnet had been reluctant at first, knowing that future vision could destroy a person if they weren't careful. But Amethyst was stubborn, so Garnet finally agreed with a last warning "Remember, this is just a possibility". And then she kissed her forehead.

"Tell me about it." The fusion said after Amethyst had calmed.

"Garnet, it was horrible. We said such horrible and hurtful things. I didn't know I could be like that. This is a mistake, I can't do it." She explained, wiping away the tears that covered her cheeks.

"Did you tell her?"

When the small gem look away, Garnet knew that she hadn't. She had planned this whole thing because she was afraid to go straight to Peridot and tell her the truth. And at the end (or at one of the possible futures) she still hadn't been able to do it. She had coward up.

"I made an excuse. I told her about the limb enhancers and then we started to say mean things. I don't believe she was that mad about them, she thought I was gonna tell her… what I actually meant to tell her. I made a mess for not having the guts to tell her I love her." She let out a big sigh and looked at Garnet. "I'm calling this whole thing off. I'm not losing my friend". She started to walk in the house direction but was stopped by a hand on her arm.

"You just so a possible future. I won't show you another, but you must know there are others. There's a future when you do tell her." Garnet said while adjusting her glasses.

"And then what happens?"

"You'll have to find out on your own."

"But Garnet" said Amethyst in that adolescent tone of hers "if I try to found out with my plan everything could go wrong. I could coward up again!"

"You know you could just go now and tell her, right? You don't need that plan." Garnet gave her a smile and walked to the house, leaving the purple gem alone in the beach.

 _I could just go and tell her_ … Amethyst thought, cracking a smile, _and I wouldn't have that horrible ending! I'm so stupid! Why didn't I do this from the beginning?_

"Garnet, I'm going to the barn. Tell Steven I'm sorry, I only have one chance, I have to make it right." Amethyst yelled at Garnet, starting to run. "And thanks!"

Garnet watched the other gem run to the barn. She smirked as her glasses sparkled. Future vision could destroy a person if they weren't careful, but just this time it had been worth it.

* * *

So what do you think? Makes sense? English is not my first language, so any advice you could give me is really appreciated.  
I also know this is not exactly how "future vision" works, but I took some liberties xD


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